eMarket

The Internet is allowing business to be conducted "live" anywhere worldwide

  • Emerging  "Knowledge-Based Economy" where the Internet is the equalizer and the driver
  • Convergence of data, video, and voice over IP
  • Development of wireless access
  • Transition to special all-purpose "appliance" offering reliable, secure, anywhere Internet service

Web surfers are young, wealthy and educated

  • 141 million (70%)  Americans adults use the Internet as of December 2006, according to Pew Internet and America Life Project.
  • 92 million (65% of  U.S. adults) use the Internet on a daily basis vs. only 27.7 million in 1997.
  • 91% of college educated use the Internet
  • 93% of households with incomes over $75K use the Internet
  • 65% of users log on daily; 91% use for email; 91% use for search engine to find information, 78% to shop online for a product, 73% for travel information, 67% get their news.
  • By March 2006, 42% of (about 84 million) Americans had high-speed Internet at home, up from 29% (about 59 million) in Jan 2005.
  • Of broadband users, 71% go online for news daily.
  • 41% of all Internet users go wireless
  • Internet is bi-coastal with heaviest use in CA and the Northeast

Reasons why people use the Internet

  • Reference is the greatest use of the Web
  • In general, consumers shop online primarily for convenience and absence of sales pressure, in addition to product availability and price considerations.
  • Majority of consumers (58%) conduct research online before making purchases
  • Research shows that off-line sales are increasingly driven by online research. For the 2006 holiday season, for example, 47% of online researchers followed through with a purchase off-line. They frequently purchased products in addition to the one originally researched online.  Apparel and accessories, and toys and hobbies were the two biggest percent buyer conversion categories.

Site Performance: More important than loyalty and price

  • More than 90% of online shoppers abandon a web store after 3 or fewer unsuccessful tries to make a purchase
  • 75% of shoppers complain web sites generally load to slowly and more than half say they would switch to a competitor' site
  • 75% of online shoppers will not return to a site if the home page takes more than 4 seconds to load
  • About 30% form a "negative perception" of a company with a poorly performing site.
  • One in three would leave a site if there is bad navigation or a lengthy checkout process.

2005/2006 Boating Market

  • U.S. recreational boating is nearing a $37.3 billion industry, up 13.2% from prior year in revenue.
  • Most segments of boat unit sales were flat or down.
  • 75.8 million people participate in boating, up 10.33%.
  • 17.95 million registered and non-register boats in use in U.S.
  • 864,459 new boats were purchased in 2005; of which 306,000 were powerboats including and 14,000 were sailboats. The rest were personal watercraft (80,200), inflatables (30,100), canoes (77,200), jet boats (6,700) and kayaks (349,400).
  • New boat retail sales increased from $10.754 million to $11.574 million in 2005.

2005 Internet Market: Projections made in 2000

  • 200 million US  Web surfers
  • 111 million wireless US Web surfers
  • Online advertising expected to quadruple to $16.5 billion
  • Over 1 billion cell phones worldwide
  • Instant Messaging will triple to more than 175 million users
  • e-Business will grow to a $7 trillion industry

2011 Online travel revenues will reach $128 billion in U.S.

Last update: 02.22.07

Sources: 3 Com Corp. 2000; GVW's WWW User Survey, Georgia Tech Research Corp., Nielsen/Net Ratings;  Jupiter Research, IBM Mobile Insights 2000, National Marine Manufacturer's Association, NSGA, Pew Internet and American Life Project, Performics 11/06, EMarketer, May 2006